Praying Mantis

Praying mantis

A few minutes before I took this shot, this male praying mantis had been floating face down, legs sprawled, in the swimming pool. Whatever stroke he was trying, it wasn’t proving successful, so it was fortunate for him that I wandered past and fished him out. He stood in the sun for some considerable time drying out – you can see a droplet of water on his head behind the antennae – and he was only too happy to repay my service by posing for a few pictures. Just in case he thought it was all too much fun, I then moved him into greenery far from the pool.
Location: Tuscany, Italy

Canon 40D with Canon EF-S 60mm macro lens. ISO 160 f6.3 1/320. Tweaked in LR.

Ghostly Venice

Ghostly Venice2

A busy afternoon on the Grand Canal in Venice is rendered eerily quiet thanks to a neutral density filter and a long exposure. Taken from the square by the Guggenheim museum, this location just down from the famous Accademia bridge (think Canaletto) is always buzzing with boats. The faint blur of one that passed during the exposure can be seen on the much-flattened water.

Canon 40D with Canon 10-22mm EFS lens at 15mm and a ND 3.0 1000x filter, ISO 100, f10 20 seconds